Rep Power: 267

I am about to buy an 96 ex with a b16b swap. it was a full swap engine, tranny, ecu. I haven't driven it myself yet, but for the price i could not pass it up. Anyway, The guy says the vtec works normally through first and second, but in third and so on, it does not engage. His friend told him his did the same thing and the solenoid was bad. Any ideas? I didn't think the solenoid and tranny were directly related. Could it be an oil pressure problem? I'm kind of in the dark on this one. I go drive it on friday. He also said that in 3rd it felt and sounded like it does when the governor is kicking in, around the point vtec should be engaging.

 
Rep Power: 0

Check the oil level. If you do not have enough oil in the engine it will not build pressure for the vtec to activate. Also if the cluster needles are jumping all over the place it means your VSS is going out. That also will cause vtec not to work.